I'll bet everyone has a close call story. I have a # of them but it may be due to the way I drive. Here's a long one from behind the wheel of my 99 6 speed hardtop:

All of this happens in just a few seconds.

About 5-6 years ago I am on I 65 headed north out of Indy on the last leg of a trip from S FL to Chicago. Traffic is light that summer morning & the sun is shining brightly which helps keep me alert after driving all night.

Running over the limit just enough I am about to pass an old Granada loaded with kids. As my nose gets even with the rear bumper of the POS Granada I hear a loud pop. The Granada drops on the right rear & the tire carcass goes airborne.

I am instantly on the binders hard, clutch it & I grab 4th gear wondering what my next move will be when the Granada makes an abrupt left, WTF!!! sparks flying from under the car from the wheel which no longer has any tire on it, all kinds of road debris & dried mud is flying around as it spins about 90* & is sliding sideways right in front of me.

I now have the anti locks working, & a death grip on the steering wheel as I am staring at a red headed kid with her face pasted against the rear door glass & her mouth wide open. I could almost hear the kid screaming as she is watching the nose of the Vette which is no more than about a foot from impact.

In the blink of an eye: I crank the wheel hard right drop the clutch & stab the throttle, the Vette responds instantly snapping right & clearing the back of the Granada as it continues its lazy 180* spin. Then hard left as I back out of the throttle & straighten it out. I used ALL of the paved shoulder & was able to keep it out of the ditch. (insert cuss words here)

I'm slowing as I watch the Granada in the side view mirror as it finishes its lazy 180 spin & ends up bouncing around into the median & remains upright. How this car did not roll is beyond me. Besides sliding sideways on a wheel with no tire on pavement it did not bite & roll when it hit the grass. It just dug a trench & stopped.

I see other motorists in the rear view that are stopping to help so I continue on my way. Normally I would stop to see if anyone needed assistance however in this case I was so infuriated with the driver of that Granada I probably would have been arrested for assalt.

Wrecking my ride is one thing but loading up a bunch of kids in a POS car which no doubt had bad tires & taking them out on the interstate qualifies the driver for a Darwin award.

That guy will probably never know how lucky he was. If I had been in anything other than a Vette I am sure I would have hit that Granada broadside & maybe hurt or killed a bunch of kids.

I ended up with some scratches under the car from all the flying debris & somehow I lost the right front hub cover/cap.

Adult beverages were consumed that evening.
END.

 

I had a guy almost run me off the road with a horse trailer..
merged over and never saw me.
Let the lt4 run and i got out the way

 

First day I really got to drive my 93. Was on my way on a short jaunt from Knoxville to Jefferson City. Bout a good hour drive. I was on 129 East. Well there was a bridge under construction ahead and I had to merge into the right lane in a 1/4 mile. I have a Ford F-150 coming up behind me and I put my blinker on to see if he will let me in. The (insert insult here) sped up and got his nose even with my back bumper. I look up and Im about 100 yards away from a nasty date with some road cones and probably a cop. Luckily the guy in front of me pulled ahead a little bit, i slam it into 4th, slide in front of the guy and give him a kind hearted gesture through roof since my top was off and finish the encounter with a lovely "F$^# you very kindly too!!!"

End

 

Thought I got someone pregnant once...or twice.

 

 

Now if it was in the Vette that would be a great story...

 

going through downtown denver one day. middle lane passing a semi doing 70 in the fast lane and then move into the fast lane doing 70 to 75. slower traffic to the right -some people just dont get it.

we round a curve and over a hill near broadway. as i crest the hill traffic is stopped dead about 100 yards in front of me. oh crap i think. no way in hell is that semi going to stop in time. im thinking vette sandwhich. cars to the right of me wall to the left. im stuck in the middle with you. okay thats a 70's song. i accelerate as fast as i can and pull to the left towards the wall as far as i can right up to the car in front of me and then begin braking real hard. by doing this i moved away from the trucker and gave him room to move around some of the other cars in the other lanes.

the semi crests the hill and i can just imagine the guys expression and vocabulary. he immediately hits the brakes and tires smoking. well it was both of ours lucky day. by doing what i did it gave him enough room to move up on me and then move to the middle lane and believe it or not move to the far right lane just missing the various cars in both of those lanes. it was like he was driving my vette the way he was able to direct that thing into the other lanes around the cars. i watch him just get around my right rear corner and make it into the middle lane and with out missing a beat he moves into the right lane and gets the rig stopped as he moves onto the far right shoulder. smoke belowing from the tires. the guy has his window down and as we creep by him i watch him put his head down on the steering wheel. im sure he said a "dear god thank you". he finally looks over at me and gives me a two thumbs up. he knows what i did gave him the room to do what he was able to do.

i appreciate it dude but i was trying to save my ***.

 

I work on an air force base out in the middle of a dry lake bed with about an hours commute. When I was working night shift I had a long straight road I would take that no one save for base personell used and was not patrolled by police after midnight. So I could cut my commute down substaintially by cruising at about 140 instead of 55. Well one night I got off work early and assumed my standard speed and was sternly warned by a CHP officer. So I figured I'd use the next frontage road for about a couple weeks. This road had intersections but even at speeds well above 150 you could see for miles if someone was coming. It was the dips in the intersections that got me. On the 3rd 5th and 9th intersections there were substantial dips. One night I miscounted which intersection I was on and wound up launching the car airborne at about 125 mph. When the car hit the road it hit hard on the RF corner and launched a box of carburetors I had been rebuilding into the back of my head which summarily exploded edelbrock parts everywhere. All four shocks blew and the car went into a clockwise spin which ended in an old gas station (missed the old pumps). I seriously knew I was gonna die. Luckily the only damage was 4 blown shocks, a stretched lower a arm on the RF, a bent wheel, and scraped up the underside of the car. Not to mention those jeans thatll never be worn again. Some people wonder whether or not they have a gaurdian angel and im not one of them. Lesson learned. Push the limits on a safe track.

 

I have to say it, but none of your stories will ever come close to riding a motorcycle. I rode my Harley to work for 2 months for the summer and it's almost an every other day thing of getting run over. I can't even tell you how many times, I lost count. People need to learn to drive and get off the damn phone and pay attention...some people were not even on the phone, they are just dumb!

 

48 % of the twenty-somethings text while they drive, think about that the next time you're on the highway.

 

Yep, you have to pretend you're invisible on a bike - brain-donors are everywhere.

 

Earlier this month we were going through Tulsa - mid afternoon on Sunday. The interstate opens up to three lanes from two. In front of me is semi, green lincoln, me and my buddy behind me. I move to the left lane from about 30 yards behind the guy. Next thing I notice is his parking lamp over the right front bumper. Grabbed the brakes and veered left - couldnt remember if it was a bridge shoulder or a lane width! Fortunantly it was a full lane. Look away from the parking lamp and there is what I think is a full truck tire sitting in the middle of the shoulder!!!!!!!!!!! More brakes and the tire disappears from view as we come to a stop. My bud says the guy never signaled or hit the brakes! And what turned out to be just a full retread was above the belt line in height!!!

 

Hi Here's my story.I bought my 93 corvette on ebay. Insurance company wouldn't let me put full coverage on it[with out seeing it] to go out to pick it up. I took a bus out picked it up about 600 miles a way, and drove it home that weekend. The next week I was going to drive it to work to show everyone but when I got outside the car cover was all wet so I decided not to. took my 88 Ford exp beater instead. About a mile from work a kid on a bike wint across my path at a light,I stopped guy behind me didn't. My Car was totally wrecked,but It was just luck I had not been driving the corvette! To this day I don't put a lot of miles on my corvette because I think of what could have happened. Good luck Tim

 

Now the real question is HOW in a vette.

 

It IS possible in a '59 C1. (Although maybe not anymore, I don't bend in as many places as I used to Maybe I should say it USED to be possible)

 

How about this one......I had a 300xz approach me on the Merritt Pkwy in the opposite lane divided by guard rails. His L\R f'n tire falls off, passes him, and bounces across the grass, over the guard rail, into my lane and over the roof of my car. I shook my head and thought....I gotta be asleep that did not just happen. It was in slo mo. Looking in the rear view mirror, the 300xz slowed into the right lane then fell onto the rear caliper....
Mike

 

Top has to come off

 

I may have to attempt that.

 

-Taking my brother for a ride, going into a 4 wheel drift doing around 120mph.

-Taking cousin's wife for a ride, another 4 wheel drift 2 miles from the above one. This time it was about 50mph and much more controlled. LOL!

-More than a close call. Deer hit driver side mirror. Something inside broke but still works. Mirror jiggles a tad at higher speeds.

-Lost control=oversteer on Turn3 at Portland International Raceway. I underestimated how fast it hooks when you lift. I've gotten a bit better since. Put it out in the grass. No harm no foul.

 

My scariest moment was when I was 16(2003) riding on a backroad with a 45mph limit. I was maxing out my 73 Honda ST90 to keep at 45 and a Hummer H1 comes up on me and I could tell by his braking action he just barely noticed me, but at least he did. I puckered so hard I could have made the seat disappear.

Vettewise - I had the top bolt on the passenger front caliper shear off at about 70 and the caliper was eating the inside of the wheel to stop the car.